NPSD School Board Action Meeting 3-17-22

001okay our youtube feed is live north penn television is live madam president the meeting is yours thank you mr gilmer all right we'll call this meeting to order welcome everyone to tonight's action meeting first up will be the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right then first up on the agenda for this evening are recognitions and proclamations and tonight we have dr marjorie dieg with us and she is going to be um recognizing the students for um black history month or rhetorical competition which was held on february 24th of this year dr yay the floor is yours thank you mrs still good evening everyone my name

002is dr marjorie diag and i'm an assistant principal at penn zell middle school and i'm also a member of the north penn school district cultural proficiency and equity executive committee this year north penn school district presented its third annual black history month or rhetorical competition it was a beautiful event and it was great to see so many educators staff family members and community members come and support the students of north penn we receive so many positive compliments and comments on how impressive and powerful our student voices were and how they performed we are proud to share that all first place recipients will receive an invitation to perform at this year's international spring festival on april 23rd at north penn high school and now i'd like to recognize all the students who performed group one represented

003grades four through five we had isabella lozinski julia mayberry jake kelly peyton jackson olivia taylor our first runner-up was catherine phillips and our first place winner was sony v wagner group two represented grades six and seven we had molly devine jeffrey jimmy ayanna charitable nokuhana and lavu angela garcia first runner-up was michaela lewis and our winner first place was tatiana ponton in our last group presented grades 8 through 12. we had summer kresge diana dobson glenn xavier fallon rayne ashanti first runner up was kyrie glass and this year for the first time we had a tie for first place david lyons and dominique bethel we're so proud of all our students and so thankful for you guys giving us the opportunity to thank them today thank you dr dieg i was able to attend that

004um evening and i was just so impressed with the students they were excellent and i look forward to getting to see them again on um on april 23rd at the international spring festival does anyone else have any comments or anything no well congratulations to all the participants they were again just awesome so thank you for what you did dr dieg to organize this and make it possible thank you for joining us this evening too so have a good night all right moving on then to the next thing um the schedule will be the audience of citizens and uh we will have about 45 minutes of public comment this evening um i will read off the statement and then mr gilmer can let us participants come in one at a time so this meeting is being

005videotaped for community cable channels and streamed live individuals attending this meeting and intending to speak to the board should be aware that they are being videotaped in order to meet the requirements of pennsylvania's sunshine law it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the board during the meeting to ensure compliance with this requirement it is essential that those planning to address the board state their name and municipality members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to allow time for all those who wish to speak to the board the board president may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker as a reminder the audience of citizens portion of the meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment and

006feedback on matters which are or may come before the board it is not designed for debate or discussion with the board when appropriate individual school directors may choose to respond to public comments that have been made once the audience of citizens period has concluded or requests that a member of the administration follow up with the speakers after the meeting so with that um we will have our first public comment i believe um there's there was eight people that signed up ahead of time so we'll let them go first and the first one up would be mr vincent altieri is mr altieri here this evening he is so mr alteary i have enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name in municipality and begin your comments please are you able

007to hear me we've got you thank you vincent altiri lansdale pennsylvania first off i'd like to understand why tonight's meeting was changed to virtual i for one plan my schedule well in advance to be at these meetings in person as a leader i want to look someone in the eye when i provide my perspective while this is only my fifth consecutive school board meeting shame on me i have done my research and continue to equate myself with the enemy and the enemy is the school board and this superintendent i was criticized for some for pointing out at the last meeting that north penn school did north penn school district is the enemy well by definition the enemy is a person or a group that is hostile to someone well each of you at a minimum

008are hostile to our children to wear diapers on their faces long after it was necessary indoctrinating our children with your opinion on global warming allowing teachers the latitude to take mass to our children's faces introducing books into our schools that are un-american and inappropriate allowing teachers to single out students by privilege and something that is very personal to me and my old my also had something that i have not gotten a response back from either madam president or kurt dietrich for the umpteenth time my question is was it illegal legal or simply unethical for a nurse to encourage my child to get vaccinated what gives anyone the right to express their opinion onto my child well since you will not answer my question i'll answer part of it myself every board member and the superintendent

009is responsible for all these unethical actions because as so-called so-called leaders what you allow you teach let me repeat myself what you allow you teach so is my time up yet madam president no no you have a minute seven seconds left oh thank you so much oh you're welcome oh i know i know that let me finish with this a north penn school district former north penn school district parent posted a six-minute youtube video about a week or so ago which highlights several years of hypocrisy if you can't find it friend me on facebook and i'll gladly share it with you its title is simple your time is up and it stars casa fusco and madame president so go ahead madam president shut off my mic i'm done talking for now but as a son

010of a former marine i'm not done exposing your hippocratic ways thank you mr alteri next up then will be mrs bro brought you pauline brought you yeah i don't see her in the room tonight i think the next one that's in the room at this point just double checking would be aaron blanc madam president i think it's faith kaiser do you see her in there i didn't see i saw a kaiser i think i'm not sure if that's her spell oh okay there's a ken kaiser um if that's you um faith go ahead and raise your hand in the interface i know that you get the little raised hand at the bottom of your screen thank you all right there we go sorry about that here we go so up next is faith kaiser faith

011ivan there you go enabled your microphone ready to begin if you could state your name and municipality you need to begin your comments all right looks like that didn't take there mr scrocky if you could restart that timer all right we're gonna try this again all right faith do we have you now hi i'm faith kaiser from upper gwynedd and i'm ken kaiser from upper gwenna and uh our daughters uh have attended our north penn school district for 18 years ago it started there in glendale square and having spent the last 40 years building factory control systems is what i do i know that anything complicated built by humans takes time to come to fruition whether it's a control system at a pharmaceutical plant a building like a hospital or democracy it takes time and

012energy to build and maintain and while it takes much effort to build many of our structures are actually very fragile and we've seen an example of this fragility after for example after planning designing construction hiring doctors and nurses and technicians and purchasing and installing health equipment all of which have the power to save lives a hospital is brought to life but as we've seen on the news from ukraine in a blink of an eye it is destroyed by one missile so humans can destroy something in one second something that took years to build and maintain similar to maintaining a hospital in kiev you on the board have been elected by the will of the voters of north penn to maintain and improve a school district while others may want to throw verbal artillery at the

013school district and you personally you are keeping the fragile complex organization alive thank you for being the unsung heroes of our school district you have all created the governance structures that allow for other key leaders in the district to continue the goals of a public education like the superintendent who was able to create a workable hybrid instruction model that changed as the pandemic metrics changed or like the sports teams that were able to keep training during 2020 and be successful in 2021 or like the marching knights band director who you collaborated with and supported and who successfully worked through the pandemic with a band program in 2020 which was a key factor in winning nationals in 2021 you have all created the health and safety plan that has helped helped us understand when protections were

014active and when they weren't this plan proved to our family that you led with safety as a top priority you have all kept the school district running during a worldwide pandemic for more than two years for that governance structure that supported sports and activities during the pandemic we thank you for the health and safety plan needed during the pandemic we thank you and for the unpaid volunteering you do to keep this award-winning school district running smoothly we thank you in closing school districts our complex organizations that take a lot of work to build and maintain don't let those who are throwing verbal missiles at you and at the people who live in the north pan school district and that the organizational structure itself deter you there is a silent majority of people who voted for

015you and that support you we are these people we may not be visible during your meetings but we support you we the majority appreciate and thank you for what you do to maintain public education thank you mr mrs kaiser okay i'm out of president i think the next on the list would be aaron blanc then okay mr reinhardt is not here this evening right i do not see him up okay oh there it goes sorry aaron you just raised your hand you've jumped up in my interface for me there we go stand by all right aaron i've uh enabled your mics you're ready to begin you can state your name and it's pouty and begin your comments hello this is erin blanc of hatfield and um i um wanted to know why this meeting is

016virtual um it should be in person the emergency is over the office of open records has been advising that all meetings should be in person the policy on the website states that any meeting that's a quorum would be in person which would be an action meeting i was hearing that the auditoriums were booked for tonight but i can tell you that there are empty auditoriums audios gyms and cafeterias in the district tonight and a school board meeting should take priority over some other activities that could have been bumped if that is the real reason i wonder if this has anything to do with the email that the local democratic committee sent on march 2nd to their members to ask them to petition the board to make this meeting virtual because of concern about being around

017potentially large groups of unvaccinated people concerned about being around people who refuse to mask or wear their mask properly or physical safety concerns due to the aggressiveness of attendees i just wonder if that's the reason we're virtual tonight and if so you should be ashamed that you're hiding from your public i also would like to know if there's any forum public forum like a newspaper where my child can talk about the anxiety and mental anguish that they've gone through the past two years from forced virtual schooling masking quarantining and a prison-like atmosphere in their elementary school thank you thank you mrs blunk okay up next on our list madam president would be jesse bradica jesse i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin state your name and municipality and begin your comments please

018hi jesse bradica upper gwynedd i wanted to first say that i i read the night crier article and it saddens me that mr fusco had struggled and had a panic attack um with the pressures of being on the school board uh and kind of seeing what you know the how the community is responding to the policies that this board continues to make and the way that they have treated those who don't agree with their policies it's been divisive and it's been the divisiveness has been led by this board more than parents um i can tell you from personal experience the lies that were peddled about me uh from social media and in the night crier itself was hard to take but when you stand up to serve your community those are the punches that you

019have to take and i agree with miss blanc when she's talked about the anxieties that our children have faced for two years that our parents had to face in the year and a half almost two years of school shutdowns even after it was advised that schools should be opened by two different cdc directors and by our superintendent so those are consequences the community's reaction our consequences on your leadership that's all i have to say i do thank you for stepping up and trying but i do encourage you to try to make it better in this community instead of fueling the fire all the time thank you mrs pratica okay up next is jennifer foster jennifer i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name municipality and begin your comments

020please thank you uh jen foster and i am in tomenton um i wanted to express my thanks and support to the board along with all of the teachers and staff throughout the district uh you've all worked tirelessly through this pandemic to not only educate but to keep students staff and the broader community safe i am absolutely appalled at the constant vicious attacks on this school board using words like child abuse and law breakers is not only libelous but it's also very dangerous comments like these have brought threats of violence to a once very tight-knit community i honestly have never experienced a more entitled group of people than those criticizing our board over the safety measures they've put in place these are public health measures meant to keep all of us safe these same parents who

021likely advocate against bullying in our schools have become the worst kind of bully i'm deeply concerned about the example they are setting for our children now that masks are optional they've moved on to crt so let's talk about that the diversity equity and inclusion program that north penn has implemented is not critical race theory crt is not being taught in any k-12 school in the entire united states instead the teaching of dei is being used to push a racist agenda i'm very proud of the work the school is doing to foster an appreciation for different cultures not only within our community but across the country i wish these parents likely taking their cue from far right wing organizations would be as passionate about protecting our kids from active shooters or the impact of required active

022shooter drills on our children i appreciate the board holding these meetings remotely i very much wanted to attend a meeting to show my support however i am at high risk for covid i cannot put myself in a room with people that refuse to vaccinate themselves or mask to protect their neighbors i am one of the potential statistics that they are putting at risk and they should be ashamed of themselves and before they tell me to stay home if i'm scared it's time they all stay home i'm totally talking directly to these folks now we have a vaccine that is saving lives but there are still many people that can't get it including some of the children that go to these very schools you have chosen not to protect yourself which is your right but it

023is not your right to put other people at risk thanks again to the board for all that you do stay strong stay safe and remember the large majority of this community supports everything that you do thank you thank you mrs foster okay up next and uh final on our pre-registered list is roseanne gad roseanne i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name municipality and begin your comments yes hi rosanne gad lansdale anxiety seems to be the new normal considering some of our board members have had serious issues it's unfortunate that many people in high positions are having a tough time it's interesting that the article that was published said nothing regarding our children who have suffered immense for two years so it begs the question where was your

024concern for all of our children during that time there are many people who have been affected by these mandates lockdowns lack of education being bullied depression suicide and mental illness as a whole we are just doing what's right for our children we are not here to debate or fight with you but there are stipulations that all public officials have to follow and we want you to know that with these violations each one of you is liable for every law broken i encourage parents to look at the north penn health and safety plan currently it's mass optional but is contingent on transmission rate in montgomery county this board shows funding over the health and well-being of our children which led us to pursue your bonds and oath of office you have sworn an oath to uphold

025the constitution of the state of pennsylvania and the constitution of the united states of america you have failed to uphold both of these constitutions we live in america and are free to live our lives without restrictions abuse and unlawful mandates from elected government officials mandates are not enforceable laws as an elected public servant you have no jurisdiction or authority to create or enforce mandates do you understand the ramifications of these laws from the last two years do you know without a doubt that you will be protected in case you didn't know the constitution protects we the people you may not like what we say at each meeting but we have always spoke truth and that will never change truth seems to be the new hate speech in closing i would like to sincerely thank kurt

026dietrich as he was the only one who really listened and heard me the past two years he was attentive and took the time to understand understand my true concerns you will be greatly miss curt thank you mrs gad mr gilmore is there anyone else in the um waiting room that has their hand raised for public comment we do we have several um so up next would be david shoots david i've enabled your microphone soon you're ready to begin you can state your name and municipality and begin your comments please stopped unmute there david all right david if you're not going uh yeah hi dave shoots from hatfield township um just a couple of comments um things like stating like stating things like we're making kids wear diapers on their faces it's just patently ridiculous um

027this meeting is virtual because a great number of us who have attended the meetings in the past do not feel safe around many of the people who have shown themselves at these meetings not just because of the apparent lack of vaccine vaccines and vaccine status as well as an inability or unwillingness to wear a mask but also because uh some of the rhetoric that is spewed is just so hateful uh and and so uh inflammatory that uh it it makes me feel uncomfortable uh around people who act like that um everybody knows why there's so much vitriolic rhetoric that's spewed uh towards our school board at these meetings um and what it all comes down to is pushing a political agenda that's that's really what this is and the vast majority of us recognize that

028um the people who are out there who are still whining about masks are also the same people who love to praise the virtues of service to our country yet they fight tooth and nail to avoid doing even the most basic and simple task to help keep our community safe some kids can't wear masks we've established that those kids need extra protection or needed the extra protection up until very recently so that's pretty much all i have to say i'm very proud of our school board you guys do a wonderful job and um my kids are getting a great education and i'm very pleased with how you guys are running things and thank you very much please keep going uh you have uh the support of the majority uh of people who elected you to office

029uh you know up and down the ballot every single one of you has um wide support in this community and thank you very much thank you mr shoots okay up next is crystal sackle crystal as soon as my there we go crystal i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name and municipality and begin your comments please hi crystal sackle lansdale borrow i'm just calling in because it's a real shame that we continue to be divided especially over a vaccine i don't know if anybody's realized but pfizer released data many many pages of things that are happening to people that are taking the vaccines not to mention a majority of us who have chosen not to take the vaccine have already gotten covid and therefore we're good to go

030we're covered and it doesn't matter if you get vaccinated or not you still can spread it let's add to the fact that before kovid ever even existed there are people all around us that are not fully vaccinated from your regular everyday vaccines because they've chosen not to heck some of us adults who got vaccinated as kids we're no longer up on them so therefore we're not vaccinated with smallpox and whatnot and yet so many people still are not having to worry about an outbreak and people getting it so the pure fact that we're being bullied by individuals who think a vaccine is protecting everybody is absurd in reality let's just make it really clear the only reason that this has become virtual is because the board decided that they wanted to have some people help

031them out they didn't want to hear us or see our faces anymore it is beyond ridiculous how much longer are you guys going to fear getting sick it's absurd i had stage one lung cancer i'm in remission i have asthma i have a whole slew of issues and i am not scared to go out are these same people scared to go to the grocery store go to the movie theater i bet you they go on vacation down to florida and they don't wear a mask people need to really get a clue and get it together it's beyond irritating to be bullied by a bunch of liberals just one second let me you lowered your hand and you fell down the list for me let me find her real quick okay yeah i just want to

032make sure her mic was turned off all right up next is uh jason lanier jason i have enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name and municipality and begin your comments please jason lanier lansdale uh wanted to quickly correct uh uh board members stole on the on on what in fact public comment is for and what could be done in public comment this is from the oor the uh officers open um open records uh they basically said uh the question being the in the question answer can public questions be asked during a comment period their answer is yes although members and agencies may not be uh maybe not be required to answer so it's it's good to it's we're fine to ask the question you don't you don't need

033to answer but their their conclusion is it would help avoid uh right to knows um in internet uh this meeting being moved i i guess uh one of the was a david who said that it was moved because of safety reasons that wasn't the explanation given it was supposedly there wasn't any available space turns out that's not true i stopped by a couple of uh facilities and there was plenty of space open including the uh ecs building if i'm not mistaken uh other other thing um looking at why there's been such hostility do you guys when when you when you came out and announced the the entire conversation or the the the voicemail that was from uh vegas or whatever and and and basically gave a big diatribe and fusco got up there and started

034saying how that he that they were proud you guys were proud of of the privileged walks and i think we talked about this before you guys had been denying this happening for eight months and people who brought it up you were calling a liar saying it didn't happen and i could go through the history the initial time was when i asked you board member stole whether or not anything like a race walk was going to happen and you said no i promise you nothing like that will be happening in north bend school district the following meeting i asked whether or not i in fact said told you guys that that there were privileged walks happening and you know what you said to me mr stoll you said it's not happening in north penn where's your

035evidence so these things are happening one year what exactly no that was on the 15th now you kept saying that we were lining up kids by color no not on the 15th i didn't that was in that was in the the the uh the the um district building i i said it in the district building i didn't say race i said privilege walk and i and explained it and you denied it happening and you told me i needed some evidence and it's funny that one of your operatives and their daughter came out and told me after i made that that announcement she her daughter came and said oh yeah that happens to us uh that happens to me in fifth grade now i believe she goes to to montgomery elementary or she did at the

036time so i know this is happening in multiple schools multiple classes and yet you guys lied about it happening and i'm guessing you did it for political expediency you didn't want to make this announcement that you were doing this divisive sort of thing ahead of the election that's my guess i don't know but on top of what you guys have done here in terms of lying as to why you have have uh moved the meeting maybe maybe you need to uh maybe you need to to decide whether or not you're going to be honest with the public or you're just going to be operating on under your own uh political aspirations thank you okay up next is margaret burke margaret i have enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your

037name and minutes penalty can be in your comments please hi uh my name is margaret burke and i'm from upper gwynedd and to the board members just listening to this tonight i want to say thank you so much for all you've done for all you put up with and hearing some of the comments tonight it just breaks my heart and i apologize for our community and what you've been subjected to uh i do want to let you know and i know you know that the most angry people and the loudest people don't speak for the majority of our district um i personally i have a doctorate in cellular molecular pathology and i really like the uh risk reduction strategy that you guys have taken um where we increased precautions for covid when cases go up

038i think that's very smart and as we have new variants that are in europe and china and things are closing down there and it might hit us again i hope it doesn't but if it does i'm glad that you guys have a policy in place that's ready to protect us protect our children that's our number one priority is keeping them healthy what we've mostly been hearing during public comments is just fear mongering false talking points from a nationally organized right-wing effort to drain our tax dollars from public schools in an effort to implode our public school system they want money to go to charter schools and then when we can't run the public schools will collapse that's the goal and we can't fall for it people in terms of some of the things people have

039been screaming about i just want to thank you for your diversity efforts i think the best learners feel they learn the best when they feel like they belong to their community and i appreciate that the diversity and inclusion efforts in our district promote that feeling of belonging for every person of every background that's so important thank you again guys it's amazing to me the things that i i've heard people say to you shouldn't have to hear there is nothing that you have done that put that being a public figure that that warrants that type of being called child abusers um parasites somebody called you at one time being called liars you don't deserve that and i know you're doing it for me and for my children and i appreciate you thank you so much thank

040you mrs burke okay up next is brian quinn brian i've enabled your microphone when you're ready to begin state your name and municipality and begin your comments please hi how's it going my name is brian quinn i live over in hatfield next to colt elementary i'm an emergency department nurse this is actually my first board meeting with the school i'm still trying to catch up with everything that's going on uh we just moved here in september so we're trying to talk to the neighbors see what's been going on with schools i know there's a lot of hostility on both sides coming back and forth um i can definitely see that's going on uh some of the things people talked about as far as the meeting being changed the virtual um i understand that angers some

041people i personally don't care if they do that as long as they're not doing false reasons for this occurring because that's just that's a precedent for the tone and the lies that could come afterwards so if we could just be up front if it's for whatever reason scheduling issue let's come forward i heard some other speakers talk about no policy of crt has been implemented it's just the right wingness the right wing that um upon moving here trying to catch up with my neighbors and find out some going on i was informed that there was a privileged walk that took place at my child's school where kids were stepping ahead because of the race of their skin and then at the end they had to turn around and apologize for the color of their skin

042which you know my son wasn't enrolled at the time we weren't part of it but i'd hate to see something like that come about because my voice would be much louder if that does take place again i understand this was a teacher's idea approved by the principle i haven't heard any comments afterwards but hopefully that stays quiet uh with regards to covet i hear a lot of you from misinformation come from both sides people criticizing people who don't get vaccinated and this and that um during the flu seasons uh 500 kids a year we're dying of flu in this country um which is much deadlier than code has been to our children i think we just surpassed 800 since the beginning of covid many of whom had co-morbidities whether it was cystic fibrosis severe asthma

043rsp other things that related to that death but they still mark it as a coba death um i don't remember any of this going on with flu's masked mandates all the fears uh people that are hating and criticizing those who don't get vaccinated i'm normally a very pro-x person um those who want to get vaccine by all means you should i don't think the school should be making that choice or influence on our children or to parents with that um there's many people who can't um the fact that it's preventing people from uh spreading it is a lie at this point we know that the vaccine was designed to stop the spike protein for the initial strain that which has mutated like 40 some different times to create omicron um the vaccine can't prevent against

044omicron it's just keeping people from dying and getting extremely sick but with that being said it's binding to the upper respiratory system so it's less fatal to people out there these days um with that being said i know my time's running out my concerns are there you know i'm going to pay attention trying to keep up more with what's going on you do what you will going forward with that i anticipate my voice will probably get a little bit louder i'd like to stay in the middle and find some common ground but i see a lot of like far left and anger coming and i know there's some on the right side too but maybe we can kind of find somewhere in between that we can work effectively and move forward with a little less

045hostility thank you thank you mr quinn okay up next will be katie hirsch katie i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name and municipality and begin your comments um kitty kirsh north wales and i kind of want to address some of the comments that have been made about the format of this meeting i have been asking since july to allow for to have hybrid meetings to allow for public comment both virtually and in person that's why these are some of the reasons why so that people who don't feel safe whether it's for coveted reasons scheduling reasons um the inflammatory language that's happening on both sides they can still participate in the meetings without taking away the human connection part of it because you can see the divide within

046the community and we need to re-establish the fact that we are all people we are not just names we're not just faces but we are all people that need to work through this president stole i hope you remember over a year ago i believe it was january 2021 i had a meeting with you asking for community forums because i told you that there was a frustration brewing within the community and that we needed to have an open dialogue between the community and the board and not just one-sided public comment where you respond when you want to and we aren't generally allowed to ask questions but have an open forum where community members can come ask questions and get answers because that's the only way we're going to bridge this gap and instead this gap has

047gotten farther and farther and farther apart we have inflammatory language obscene gestures hostility on both sides if you want to split this on down party lines but you also have a middle group that just doesn't want to engage because of the the infighting it's a bad look for north pad our your kids are picking up on these hostilities our kids are the ones who are suffering the most mr fresco i apologize for your i feel bad that you've had a panic attack but we have kids who are doing that having panic attacks having major anxiety their fights at schools the kid the behavior problems are through the roof and it's something where we have all suffered mental health issues throughout all of this and it's a matter of it it kind of is the nature

048of the territory and if you don't feel comfortable doing it then i suggest you step down but it's something that when i considered running for school board it was a major consideration for my own in terms of my own health and the ability to do it and i took that into consideration said i can't it's not worth it to me to do that so when you put yourself in the position to make these decisions and then also don't respond to the community's concerns this is what you get in response thank you mrs harsh with all due respect i do remember that meeting that we had um that was with me you dr dietrich and um um sean devlin from the teachers association and what you requested was a forum about our what we plan to

049do about kobe the following fall and you know things changed dramatically um and we had really we wouldn't have been able to have a forum in the springtime to talk about what we're going to be doing in the fall because things have changed so much so that's what i remember of this um request for a forum from you and i just wanted to put that out there so thank you for that okay up next is rhonda edwards rhonda have enabled your microphone when you're ready to begin state your name and municipality and begin your comments please you have to mute there rhonda all right ronda i'm gonna okay okay here we go my name is rhonda and i'm in um hadfield and this is my first time um attending a meeting whether it was live

050or virtual um i have to say i'm a little shocked at what i'm hearing um i was invited by one of your board members um and she actually told me she said you know basically don't talk about be about it okay participate and um i just want to say i'm disappointed with the neck of the tone that i'm hearing from the community um i have to say out of all the board members or the other years i've been out here for over 25 years this is the first board group of board members that have been more effective in the community and trying to implement change not saying it's the best but it's a working progress so in order to get to meet the needs that we are desiring for all levels of the educational programs

051with north penn we definitely have to start coming together and unite and not be against one and one another or tearing down because there's enough of that in this world going on as a state employee what i'm gonna say about this clothing situation i heard someone say something about the bullying whether people get vaccinated or not the whole bottom line is we need to be responsible because this is a world pandemic this is not about certain communities being affected by all these viruses we have been attacked with something that we have to use wisdom and knowledge today to not only protect ourselves but protect our children we are a village and if we are against get if you're against getting vaccinated you're against getting vaccinated however we're to get back to some type of normal

052life we have to take control and reduce the chances of spreading it and causing those who are who are have pre-existing health issues getting sick and dying this virus has taken out so many people and as a state employee it breaks my heart to see that something does not only affect not it's not stereotyping ethnicities it's attacking everyone people are losing loved ones out of the blue okay and that should be enough reason to want to protect each other to get back to some type of will we ever be a normal country being off free willy-nilly with no mask hugging and me never i'mma be honest with you i don't think so i don't think we'll ever get back to that however we can implement change and take control and be responsible with our children

053and families and get vaccinated i never got vaccinated i don't like the flu vaccine none of that i take my vitamins and keep it moving however i did it this time because i have a mother with health pre-health conditions and me being a state employee working at the county assistance office i don't ever want to go back in their office and be around anybody else in montgomery county because i don't want excuse me your time is your three minutes is up so but thank you okay up next is albert tenney albert i've enabled your microphone and when you're ready to begin unmute your mic and begin your comments please okay um thank you uh this is mrs tenney we're using the same computer hi mrs honey hi and police state municipality as well oh i'm

054sorry uh jocelyn tenney north wales borough um i just wanted to thank the board for approving the revised property tax and rent rebate program i couldn't believe that homeowners and renters could see up to a maximum of 585 dollars if they were qualified i was afraid that the details would be confusing to understand but found that the information on your website is very specific i especially like the section where you printed the frequently asked questions and responses even noting several places to get the form my children graduated from north penn high school and received an excellent education starting in kindergarten i follow what the board is doing and i know you are continuing to provide that excellent education now thank you for all the time you put in i'm sorry that you've had to endure

055all the nasty comments from people who do not understand what a good education is the rest of us are here and supporting you thank you thank you mrs tunney okay there is one more public comment in this 45 minute uh window and the final public comment will be from mr mr patchell mr patrol i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can state your name and municipality and begin your comments please thank you so much uh you know there's been much dialogue here and i'll have to talk very quickly i live in montgomery township which was recently merged into the 53rd pennsylvania district i don't know what that was all about one two and three montgomery township i guess it's a redeployment and i don't know how that is going to work

056out there's other issues up there in town manson township why would you turn down 150 million dollars for the sewage system they think that the people on that uh board over there are uh oh they have some kind of subversive uh you know really very bad bad agenda i don't see that but anyway i got four right to knows today you know what i've dedicated myself to being uh the watchdog where many don't have the opportunities okay very simple questions uh uh march 8th total number of teachers working on site north pennstool a total number of students enrolled in the district on march 7th a 30-day delay okay you don't have these numbers i find it really really ridiculous here's another one the total amount of employees that have stated that they plan to retire

057at the end of the year or have left the district start of 22-23 to the present 3-7 i need another extension you don't have these records come on you know what it's inept here's another one how many teachers were actively teaching on march 8th 2022 how many were sick or not available and how many substitutes you know how much money you're spending on substitute teachers you know what you'd be pleasantly surprised but this is why we have right to knows you know i go in every single day you see i'm 75 i'm retired i have nothing better to do than act as reconnaissance so that people can get through this bunker of silence that uh ms stole our presidente has decided that this would be a good uh medino line and uh none of the

058people that have real concerns you know what i'll tell you what you're going to have inflation so bad that you'll be lucky to get a light bulb a light bulb in one classroom you can't afford prevailing wage remember i told you prevailing wage what is that all about they bill out it like a hundred dollars an hour i have to see what this high school gets you know what you'll have a thatched hut now there's many other issues why do we have all these free meals being given out are you telling me it's a a district that's challenged just on hunger alone you know what if you saw the test scores i i defy anybody to get them and you'll see we are sinking so fast you'll want to get a rowboat and get away

059from this thing because you're going to be pulled these are facts these are facts i know you don't like it you want to have proud and strong it's ridiculous and you're going to have this you're going to have to deal with this question i'm done thank you thank you mr patchell okay that'll conclude the first uh audience of citizens for tonight's meeting thank you mr gilmer all right is there anyone that wants to comment before we move on to the rest of the agenda uh tina um i i think that uh katie hirsch herschel asked about uh meetings and i think that kurt dietrich is having a meeting or just concluded two meetings with the public to talk about what's going on in the school district you mean yeah i have uh something called conversations

060with kurt and they uh happen uh each month where it's an opportunity for people to have direct conversation with me um as a superintendent for usually about an hour we stick pretty closely to that hour time period and i find those means to be very helpful and i appreciate everyone who attends those i i think what katie hirsch was talking about though was having hybrid meetings with the board where we have some folks or maybe the boring person but the ability to to call in and comment virtually i think that's what i understood from that yeah thank you thank you there was another comment president stole just so uh there was a individual who said that uh he was concerned that he had heard he had just moved here and it was concerned he had

061heard that uh kids were lined up by the color of their skin they were made to apologize and i just want to reassure him we have no evidence that that happened anywhere absolutely none um so that was a narrative that was consistently stated by an individual or two but we have absolutely no evidence of that that kids were lined up by the color of their skin and made to apologize so i just want everybody to be aware of that thank you dr dietrich you know i i would add for dr dietrich as well um and appreciate another new member of the community engaging in the process especially someone who wants to see all sides come to some common sense progress we have great local journalism in north penn now and the reporter and you can

062also go back and watch the meeting in which we address those accusations specifically it's it's covered in writing in our independent objective press and also you could see that meeting for yourself and in that sense um mr coin you seem like someone who really um wants to hear directly what exactly happened and not just to hear save neighbors or those who have a narrative and uh i really appreciate that and uh hope that you look into that uh specific information uh at the root of the issue thank you mr casa yes um they're all our videos all our meetings are posted on the north penn youtube channel so they are available for viewing okay i also just want to take a quick moment to thank the night crier for their interview of mr fusco and

063for mr fusco's candid conversation i think having those courageous conversations about emotional well-being um and modeling um self-awareness is so powerful for our students and i think in the conversations tonight there were lots of mentions about concerns for our own children and their mental health and their emotional well-being so i want to remind everyone that our school counselors are incredible assets and finding someone to talk to whether it is a peer whether it's a school counselor whether it's a parent is so critical and so important and really what mr fusco did and that in that article and in that interview was raise awareness and to be able to talk let's also be very firm and are in um in what we all know and that mental health is stigmatized and we saw some of those

064stigmas um attached to blame and and um and pointing out uh failures right and um we need to stop that we need to make sure that that seeking help and talking about it and addressing these concerns that we remove those stigmas because those are barriers to access to support and care and our students deserve to be able to have access to support and our parents deserve to have access to that same support as well so i think this is an area where we have common ground and the one way that we can find that common ground to meet the needs of our students and to address those concerns is to remove the stigmas and to remove blame and move forward in finding common ground and programs to support i also want to give a huge

065shout out to our school counselors for always being there and all of our school personnel who are focusing on um you know teaching and learning but also on that emotional well-being and for their awareness and helping our students to be able to advocate for themselves to be able to have those conversations so thank you thank you mrs ramen chill said is there anyone else oh mr costco yeah madame president we had a lot of ground cover tonight we could thank the the um community for that in public comment uh dr dietrich or mr summers can you please address the fact that this board is not hiding uh behind any false accusations or simply going virtual um for reasons that are unfounded uh to the best of your ability can you address that for the community

066please so this uh community i think understands that in the months of uh the spring months in particular march and april it's very difficult to be able to have auditoriums available because we do have play practices and uh despite what one of the callers had said in terms of bumping out to try not to bump students from preparing and then holding various kinds of activities like that and then regard to the esc it's my sense from uh you know watching what's been going on there was not yet a level of comfort to go into that esc with the size of that room um you know all things considered um but in terms of auditoriums again april is going to be a real concerning month to be able to have space in the auditorium just from

067all accounts i'm hearing we don't have an available space in an auditorium a matter of you know other venues elementary schools or other places like that are challenging for our north penn television to be able to cover anything i suppose is possible but it's really difficult it's difficult to be able to hold meetings in those venues so thank you dr dietrich yeah so i think um we already know that april is going to be difficult as he said board director i personally would not want to bump um a student activity because of a board meeting that we can easily have virtually um there are tone alternatives for us to hold these meetings and um and i i will say i am not comfortable going to the esc right now so you know hopefully we can

068get back there someday but until that time um you know i think this is a perfectly fine form to have it is there anyone else that wants to make a comment uh yes president stole i have my hand raised maybe you don't see it oh yeah i do okay no problem i just wanted to um point out that we had a number of new voices tonight at our school board meeting and i'm real appreciative of those people who were able to speak up no matter what their viewpoint was but the idea that we're having people speak that we've never had before i want to thank them for being able to be with us tonight find their voice and speak their peace so thank you so much for participating thank you dr lewis campbell you're welcome

069okay i think with that we'll move on then to the um rest of the agenda so first off i guess we'll start with the reading of suspension of board policy zero zero six point one so um approve the suspension of board policy 006.1 with specific regard to the limitation on the number of school board directors participating in a meeting electronically and the requirement of having a majority of the board physically present at a meeting location do i have a motion so moved do i have a second motion by myself any comments or questions all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries all right next up can i have approval for the minutes for february 17 2022 action meeting um and for the approval of the minutes from the february 28th

0702022 action meeting please elbow motion by mrs romich do i have a second second second by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries okay next up are the committee reports first up was personnel the personnel committee of the board met in executive session on march 1st 2022 to discuss matters of personnel including the appointment of staff staffing considerations and collective bargaining end of report next up is finance that would be mr fusco please thank you at the march 8 2022 finance committee meeting which was a virtual meeting the following items were reviewed the monthly financial reports were provided and budget transfers were reviewed with additional discussion on the following items department budget presentations the 2223 department budgets for secondary schools

071assessment school and community engagement and district communications were presented to the community the committee excuse me uh revenue spotlight this is a new feature of the finance committee where the administration presents a deep dive into a particular revenue item at this meeting mr skaraki presented information about the realty transfer tax all financial presentations are accessible via board docs uh mr skraki reviewed the final medical and prescription rates for 2223 and the corresponding budget impact medical rates are increasing by 7.7 percent while the prescription rates are increasing by 0.9 percent for a composite increase of 6.4 percent the actual percentage increase will be even higher due to the one month premium holiday the district took in the 21 22 fiscal year final rates translate into a 3.2 million budgetary impact on the district for 22.23 or

072a 16 increase state performance audit mr shkraki provided an update on the pennsylvania department of the audit auditor general performance audit that is being conducted on north penn and 11 other school districts the next finance committee meeting will be held on tuesday march 22 and tuesday april 12 2022 both meetings will be in virtual format and will begin at 6 00 p.m end of report thank you mr fusco does anyone have any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to safe schools mr casa please thank you madam president the safe schools committee medal on monday evening february 28th mr nick cranac coordinator of transportation outlined the purpose of the student bus ridership project and described the implementation and training process advantages include the ability to capture actual bus ridership numbers real-time roster retrieval in

073an emergency and greater auditing of boarding and disembarking passengers for safety purposes grant funding from the 2018 pccd safe schools grant will be used to offset approximately 94 000 of the hardware costs for this project and the remaining annual costs of 14 724 will be funded through the transportation department budget contract approval for this project appears on tonight's agenda next dr kristen landis and mr tony becker from the north penn technology department presented an overview of the cyber security audit project project milestones were discussed as well as general information about findings and strategies moving forward detailed information about cyber security audit findings will be provided to the board at a future executive session mr durr then provided a progress update regarding the school safety assessment project which is currently underway the project was kicked off

074with marvelous healing associates in january and weekly project meetings have been held virtually since that time a detailed schedule of the site visits and interviews has been developed for on-site work by the assessment team which began on march 7th relevant documents uh have been shared with the assessment team in advance of their visit and the project is currently on schedule for may completion finally dr bowers shared a quarterly disciplined data update which offered a comparison of 2018-19 2019-20 and the 2021-2022 school years trends include an increase in punitive outcomes overall this school year however a notable decrease in disproportionality of outcomes can also be seen community committee members requested that the administration report back with greater definition about some disciplinary categories during the next update such as the vast increase in tardiness reports and detentions

075which skewed the numbers the next safe schools meeting is scheduled for monday march 28th at 5 45 pm and will be held in a virtual format and the report thank you mr casa any comments or questions all right seeing none next up we'll move on to the eci committee report dr g is not here this evening so mr mcbain would you mind reading that for us absolutely president seoul thank you very much the eci committee meet on tuesday march 1st 2022 in a virtual firm format at this meeting committee members continue to receive updates regarding the work in which building principals and their staff are engaging in the area of cultural proficiency and awareness in order to help all students and their families feel welcomed and included this month presentations were given by dr william

076bowen principal of national elementary school mr pete nicholson principal of north penn high school mr kyle hasler principal of penndale middle school we invite you to take time to view their presentations which are posted with the march 1st 2022 eci meeting in board docs the next meeting of the eci committee will take place on thursday april 7th 2022 at 6 pm in a virtual format report thank you mr mcbean any comments or questions seeing none we will move on to policy then um that would be mr rush please mr rush all right i guess i will read it um unless mr rush is there every tina i'm sorry i wish uh i was on me you uh one second policy committee met on march 8 2022 in a virtual format at the meeting the committee

077continued to work through the policies in the 800 series which deal with various aspects of the operation of the district policies reviewed this month were policy 810 transportation policy 810-1 school bus drivers and school commercial vehicle drivers policy 810-2 transportation video audio recordings policy 810.3 school vehicle drivers in addition the committee discussed policy 807 opening exercises flag displays and made a slight revision to it consequently that policy is on tonight's agenda for another first reading the next meeting of the policy committee will be on april 12 2022 at 5 pm in a virtual format thank you thank you mr rush any comments or questions seeing none then we will move on to facilities and operations and that would be mrs wesley please okay thank you the facilities and operations committee met on monday february 28

0782022 in a virtual format the committee reviewed the following items to be moved to this evening's action meeting for the board's consideration there are two change orders for the knapp elementary school project a contract with bne energy group for replacing the tubes in the natatorium pool heater the committee was presented and discussed informational items including an explanation and justification for the natatorium pool heater work knapp elementary and crawford stadium project updates an update on the high school master plan process and recent activities as well as an update on the health care clinic the next facilities and operations meeting is scheduled for monday march 28 2022 at 7 p.m and will be held in a virtual format thanks thank you mrs wesley next up would be the north monco technical career center please is that dr

079lewis campbell yes the north monco joint operating committee met february 23rd and it was a virtual meeting the operations committee approves uh various personnel motions as well as student travel requests and staff development requests were approved as well thank you dr lewis campbell um i'm sorry i i wasn't done i thought i'm sorry then we had some staff professional development requests and the jlc approved the fall 2021 oac recommendations and administrative response all bids for the water softener replacement were rejected and the project will be rebid the jlc approved four board policies as well the next jlc meeting will be held on monday march 21st at 7 pm virtually end of report president stole thank you dr lewis campbell appreciate it okay next up then will be the montgomery county intermediate unit mrs romich please

080great thank you the mciu board meeting met last met on february 24 23rd some of the highlights from the meeting included that the mciu staff announced that the pennsylvania department of education is holding a statewide special education conference from march 2nd through march 4th in hershey they also announced that the montgomery county workforce development program recently received a 100 000 grant to help support this growing program that assists secondary students in montgomery county in exploring and preparing for employment opportunities the mciu board approved memorandums of understanding between the board of directors and the education association the board also approved budgets for the head start program transportation services and the facilities and operations team the mciu board approved contract agreements with medical practitioners school-based access programs and the capital area intermediate union unit the office of

081community and government relations provided a great overview of governor wolf's 2022-2023 proposed budget the 4.37 billion dollar plan includes 20.3 um dollar twenty point three million dollars for education with increases in programs such as basic ed funding and others the board reviewed agendas and reports for the head um head start policy council the next mciu board meeting is will be held on wednesday march 23rd at 6 45 end of report thank you mrs romich any comments or questions seeing none we will move on then to the legislative committee report mr mcbain please thank you very much president sull the pennsylvania department of education secretary ortega provided testimony to the house and senate appropriation committees this past week highlighting ways in which governor wolf's proposed budget will begin to address systemic educational needs across the commonwealth

082these discussions come as new statistics continue to illustrate the ongoing shortage of certified educators and support staff here in pennsylvania a trend that began long before the pandemic during testimony this past week deputy secretary of education tanya garcia warned that new in-state teaching certifications and the number of undergraduates majoring in education in pennsylvania have both dropped by 66 over the last 11 years a declining respect for teachers was noted by several who testified this week to the education committee as a contributing factor our community should be reminded that local candidates for state office will soon be circulating petitions to appear on the ballot in the primary election those candidates who win in november will ultimately serve as our legislative voices on this and many other issues which impact our ability to provide a quality education

083for our students board members are encouraged to take part in psba's annual spring advocacy day which this year will take place in harrisburg on april 25th report thank you mr mcbain and to be clear that advocacy day this year will be um in person right yes if you want to meet with our legislators and speak with them you'll be in person there's also a virtual option by by which you can advocate in other ways okay thank you next stop then uh for the report is the north korean educational foundation excuse me madam president oh i'm sorry i'm sorry i i did want to add to mr mcbain's excellent summary that just this week out of 500 school districts across pennsylvania all types of boards bipartisan all elected by the people of pennsylvania 416 out of

084those 500 school districts have now passed resolutions asking the state legislature for relief with charter reform the state house continues to ignore these calls from the representatives elected to serve the people it's very important that the constituents of north penn are also aware of this so that they can contact their state house representatives state senators and please let them know what your opinion is about charter schools having a blank check to take taxpayers money which is why our taxes go up the fact is that uh recent research shows that 44 cents mr scrocky can correct me if i'm getting this wrong as a history major but in the last few years 44 cents of every tax increase has gone to unaccountable charter schools thank you mr casa and i think that's the key point right

085there not held to the same standards of accountability as public schools are okay next up um north penn educational foundation great thank you the foundation met last week on wednesday march 9th in a virtual format first chris frey coordinator of north penn high school's community hosted internship program or chip discussed this new position and program and how he will help students secure local internships and gain real-world job experience the foundation was excited to learn about this new endeavor how we could help promote it and possibly support with funds at a later date new trustee kurt reichwein also updated the board regarding a grant that he is looking in to help fund the spatial program spatial computing program at north penn high school and the physical needs of that innovative course more information will be provided

086next month the foundation's upcoming online auction was also discussed being held on may 4th through the 11th we are looking for community businesses who will donate services and products to this popular fundraising event we have already received more than 50 items and i'm proud to say that 100 of school board members are contributing and the north penn school board will be contributing um items to the to the auction to help with this endeavor another north penn strong apparel sale will be held from april 8th through the 29th so be sure to mark your calendars with a delivery date and time for summer and graduation in addition to north penn strong items we will also offer north penn school district and alumni selection always as always look for an email about this popular fundraiser our next

087meeting is on april 6th at 8 a.m end of report thank you mrs ramich okay next up then will be the celestial's report mr summers please thank you madam president uh the board did meet in an executive session on march 7th 2022 for the purpose of discussing a matter of personnel involving an administrative position and met again in a virtual executive session immediately prior to the meeting this evening for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters and that ends my report thank you thank you mr summers moving on then to the superintendent's report dr dietrich please thank you i recommend the adoption of the items under the consent agenda namely adoption of policies repeal of policy adoption of policies first reading the notice of intent to repeal certain policies gift to the district student travel

088contracts rejection of the bid for real estate tax bill printing services and advertising for requests for proposals do i have a motion motion by mr rash seconded by mr casa do i have any comments or questions uh madam president i i just want to point out that when we have this consent uh to those members of the community who are new or who have been showing up for the last few years that all these issues are discussed in detail uh before the committee so want to make it very clear that when we're at action meeting this is simply forwarding uh or voting on that which has been discussed in detail and this is the board's way of formally acting upon the recommendations thank you mr casa i would also like to say thank you to

089um the people that were very generous giving us gifts this month that would be allison reynolds and fred bean subaru montgomery um elementary home and school association dell chemical and david and lear bower thank you very much for the very generous gifts all right so i have a motion on the floor all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries i recommend approval of the personnel items as per the attached motion so moved motioned by mr foster by mrs wesley any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries recommended approval of change order 15 is low bar incorporated and the amount of zero dollars for miscellaneous changes during the course of construction by having a contractual change made to apply the

090unit cost allowance number 10 to this change order and recommend the approval of change order 3 to cedar electric incorporated in the amount of 18 526 dollars 35 cents for additional equipment and wiring for the access control system do you have a motion so moved motion by mr costco seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries recommend the approval of a contract with bne energy group in the amount of twenty five thousand seven hundred fifty dollars to re-tube the brine boiler pool heater do i have a motion motion by mrs wesley seconded by mr rash any comments or questions on favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the memorandum of agreement with the north

091penn education association pertaining to the adjustment of the curriculum rate pay for certified professionals specifically school psychologists speech and language pathologists and wilson trained teachers as per the attached you have a motion motion by dr lewis campbell do you have a second motion by mr or seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions can i just ask dr d tritic if you could take a moment and explain the need for this yes so um the positions that we have indicated there in that motion uh we've had a great difficulty being able to uh have folks work within those positions at the contractual rate that is in the current npea agreement that we have with the district and the board and the mpa so we did have discussions with the representation of mpea to be able

092to get a rate that more clearly aligns with what these individuals would be earning in fact in many cases is still actually below what they would be earning in the private sector but we are in a position where we find it necessary to uh be able to pay these rates in order to get the work done that has to be done thank you dr dietrich thank you dr teacher are there any other comments or questions emotion on the floor so all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries thank you dr dietrich next up will be the finance report mr scraggy please thank you madam president uh first off i'd like to thank mrs tenney during public comment who commented on the tax rebate program as you know we're very proud

093of that program it's an award-winning program and mrs tenney just for information the board authorized an increase in that rebate program for next year increasing the percentage rebate from 60 to 75 so the maximum rebate next year will actually go up to 731.25 so we're quite proud of that once again and the new rates will take effect on july 1st so mrs tenney help us spread the word we want to get more people applied to the program we know that people are out there we don't know who they are but we know a total count and our goal remains 50 of those people that are eligible at the statewide level would also submit an application to north penn so please help us spread the word and thanks again for your comments about the information on

094the website also just a reminder of the community we do have two a month finance committee meetings through the month of may as part of our budget process we have a committee meeting a special committee meeting coming up on tuesday march 22nd we'll have a couple departmental budget presentations being made that night including dr kim will be doing the human resources budget and dr mcgee heim will be presenting the special education budget so we post everything in terms of the budget presentation and executive summary as well as the line by line budget for all those departments in board docs and they are completely accessible to the community once the counter rolls in april we are planning on making a presentation to the board kind of wrapping up all these departments where we're at giving a

095comprehensive presentation with the status of the 2223 budget kind of a first look or first draft of that budget and for the community just reminder of the board i believe it was last december passed a resolution basically indicating that they will not exceed the state's act one index so whatever budget is presented to the board it will have to be at or below the actual index for the upcoming year in terms of the fiscal amounts for february 2022 we receive cash receipts during the month totaling 11.9 million dollars and we spent our disbursements were 17.6 million dollars so again we continue in negative cash flow situation which is very common at this time of the year because our real estate tax collection occurs from july to october primarily our balance at the end of february

096was 136.9 million dollars and also just a note that the federal reserve did raise interest rates on wednesday yesterday by 25 basis points that will have a direct impact on our investment income for the remainder of the year and as i pointed out at the last finance committee meeting even though we have a nearly 6 million dollar budget deficit this year we are on a pathway of breaking even this fiscal year through increased revenues and reduced spending so with that i'd ask for approval of the treasures report for the month of february 2022. i have a motion so mood second motion by mr fusco seconded by mr casa any comments or questions all in favor say aye or raise your hand any opposed motion carries okay thank you next up we have the ratification of

097disbursements for the month of february in the amount of twenty million six hundred thousand five hundred twenty nine dollars and forty four cents we're recommending approval of those disbursements is that a motion motion by mrs ramich and seconded by mr fusco any comments or questions i just like to point out for the public that those are expenses that have already incurred we're just formalizing this so all right all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries [Music] the next item up for vote would be the budget transfers for the month of february and these were reviewed at the finance committee meeting last week and we're recommending approval of those budget transfers which are attached in board docs for the month of february in the amount of 168 and ninety one 613.91 you have emotion so

098moved motioned by mr fusco second invited mr rush any comments or questions all in favor say aye or raise your hand motion carries and finally for information we have our monthly financial reports that are listed in board docs and we always summarize these as well at the monthly finance committee meeting so i'd be happy to address any questions president stole if they're none i thank you for your time thank you mr scrocky does anyone have any questions for mr scracky okay i see none so i will move on then to other business does anyone have any other business this evening uh madam president something the whole community can rally around just want to congratulate the unified bocce team for their advancement to the championship yes that was an awesome event and we also of course

099like to wish everybody a happy st patrick's day today right so i even wore green i i didn't even do it on purpose so but um okay next uh a shout out to the international festival which is in two weeks i think ah three i think it's um april well actually it's april 23rd okay great thank you okay um does anyone else know hi mr bauer's child in the background sorry about that madam president how are you bro no i'm i'm sorry what was the name brody brady you were brady brodie it's brody scracky right yeah okay so all right um if there's no other business then we'll move on to the second audience of citizens um we'll allow about half an hour for the second audience of citizens time period mr gilmore is there

100anyone in the waiting room that would like to make public comment at this time i'd remind everybody i know there's some new folks attending tonight if you tend to make comment go ahead and raise your hand right now at the bottom of your interface it says raise hand and uh we'll go in the order that the hands are raised all right so up first is uh vincent altiri vincent there we go i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin state your name municipality and begin your comments thank you vincent altiri lansdale pennsylvania thank you aaron jason and jessica and the rest of my brothers and sisters for speaking the truth and not opinion i too read the night crier article found it hypocritical for this newspaper to speak about the anger of the

101parents when they spare the fusco and madame president meltdown when my friend jason stood his ground and for the nurse last week that comment that covert is real take your argument to the southern southern border where illegal immigrants pour across our border unmasked and unvaccinated i find it interesting and disturbing that some board members invited people to speak tonight i hope everyone caught that so let's so let me try and bring this back to my own reality at least neighboring school districts and private schools successively navigated through this mess no matter what side you're on north penn school district failed and as leaders north bend school district needs to hold himself accountable to that failure mr quinn don't let casa fool you with his articulate words i urge you mr quinn please do the research

102for yourself again this is only my fifth school board meeting i've done my research and i have my facts i also urge you mr quint to please watch that youtube video that i noted earlier again it is called your time is up and it speaks towards the hypocrisy that exists in north penn school district for the gentleman that identifies himself as the silent majority your side comment about veterans and their family members was inappropriate and for those that feel more comfortable in a virtual format due to fear of covid i assume all of you are vaccinated that's your that's your that's your opinion that that's your your your prerogative if so what are you so afraid of you are protected now considering that your children are now attending school with unmasked teachers and ch and

103and fellow students why aren't you pulling your children out of the schools that made this terrible decision in terms of liberals continuing to attempt to bring the conversation back to diapers and covey i'll say it again this is so much more than diapers and crohn this is about a school board that wants to silence those that do the research and supply facts not opinions and for those that would like to come together any part of coming together starts with three simple words that i stated at my first meeting teach the curriculum thank you okay up next will be jason lanier jason i've enabled your microphone when you're ready to begin i'm your mic state your name and municipality please jason lanier lansdale um never did get my question answered as to why the board decided

104to lie about privilege walks and you can you can say that oh well you talked about race walks and you know true i did but i also said at the end of that comment and if you listen to the tape you can hear me say is anything like that happening and miss dolly said no i assure you it's not roughly that's what you said the following meeting same thing you denied it and then told me i needed evidence uh on the on 9 15 board member stole said uh it doesn't happen it doesn't happen stop watching fox tv fusco you said it's bunk i'm tired of talking about it then interesting fusco you turned around and said it's uh at the at the uh debate you said something to the effect of uh no well

105it may or may not have happened a couple questions here why did you guys lie about it and is it currently still happening you are once again conflating issues mr lanier there's a difference between the privilege walk and the apology that you insisted for six months happened you said nothing about the privilege walk until fall that's not true i can tell you exactly when i said it i said it on on on september 15th you can look at the recording you can you can hear it anybody who's in the audience can watch that meeting that did happen you're lying again stop lying the apology what do you mean the apology you're right you never apologize you insisted that we made white students apologize to blacks no i said you made kids step forward and apologize

106to the kids behind them that's what i said you said you mean no excuse okay then you can listen to the tape either way you know it happened and why did you why didn't you correct the issue then why didn't you say hey well it didn't exactly happen like this this is what happened instead you denied the anything of the sort happened which is a flat out lie and and i asked you also prior to that about a year ago i asked you what does equity and education mean and now come full circle i went to the last uh equity summit or what it whatever it is in in in looking at the the eci reports it looks like what it means is lowering standards mcbain remember when you said oh what are you doing

107talking about and i named a number of school districts well how about the san francisco unified school district you know what they've done they dropped standards entirely you know what happened to and it's been a total failure kids are not even being able to read and write they did this equity thing over a year ago you're lowering standards in in the middle schools you've lowered the to get into national junior and national junior honor society you're lowing the threshold why are you doing that well because of disproportionality in that case why not just eliminate the standard all together let everybody in the national junior honor society why not stop it mr lanier every month every meeting same old lies you should be ashamed of yourself coming out here repeating the same old stuff listen i'm

108going to address this briefly all right because you keep insisting that this was a lie what i said and continue to say is that this is not systemic right we didn't know we don't know what happens in every single classroom we didn't know it then right we didn't know there was a privileged walk that had happened but what we have said is that this is not a systemic problem and here's the evidence of that that happened in may of 2021 you're still talking about it was systemic there would be multiple issues multiple people coming with multiple examples of this happening all right it was an example of a teacher and i'll say it again who took some initiative to try to teach some empathy she i'm sure it's reflected on it and has made some

109has regrets about the way in which it was done that happens in education from time to time where we teach something and then we reflect and we think well i really should change this about it or change that about it um it's not the four alarm fire that you want to make it out to be it's just not and that was what i said is it's not systemic and i also said we can't possibly know what happens in every single classroom in every single building throughout every single day of the school year all right we can't know that so to these continued accusations that we lied all right i remember you saying when you were called on it that well actually you have don't have any evidence that anybody had to apologize but you're afraid

110that it might happen those were your words that you were afraid that it might happen well it hasn't all right it didn't it's still bunk that we made anybody apologize to anybody for their color of their skin and it won't happen you could still put that down as an assurance that it's not going to happen in north penn that's not what we're about we're about inclusivity my children are white mr mcbain's children are white believe it or not mr costa's students or children are white as well all right why would we want white children our own children to feel bad about themselves what would be the purpose for that that's not what we're trying to do and no matter how many times you try to paint it that way it's not that so i suppose

111you're still gonna have to hear it until you find another hobby sir but in the meanwhile to anybody else who's listening please understand that this man is conflating two incidents one that did happen the privileged walk was a lesson that a teacher performed with the most radical question being something to the effect of do you have a band-aid you have trouble finding a band-aid that matches the color of your skin or have you been to disney world this year um but beyond that we are not trying to make any student feel bad about who they are we are doing the exact opposite of that we want this district to be inclusive to the groups of students in particular who historically have not felt particularly included in this district we recognize that and we're working toward

112that end thank you mr fusco you're welcome and i know mr lanier attended the community ed uh presentation with dr waters and mrs ramich this past week um on the dei work that was going on in our district i would hope you learned something at that um presentation so maybe not though all right next up i think is mrs blanc that's correct oh aaron blank's up next so aaron i will enable your microphone when you're ready to begin unmute your mic and state your name in municipality please hi it's me again aaron blanc have failed um i just wanted to speak about um you know this like story about bullying and um i heard some callers earlier today that um may not be on the same side of belief that i am um accusing people

113like me of bullying and i find that like extremely offensive i know no one cares what i feel but i'm here to tell you that um you just don't even know what you're talking about because i can tell you that my child has witnessed and been a part of bullying at school over our medical choices as of late he has come home distraught over the way children and adults are speaking and some incidents that he has seen and this child is very empathetic and that is why he's so distraught over the things he has seen it's more about things that he has seen said and done to his classmates and that's why i don't speak up so much because it's not done to him but he sees it and because he's so empathetic it really

114upsets him and this is because of our and other families medical choices at this time so i think everyone needs to just stop and realize that there's two sides to this and we all see things our way and there's bullying coming from both directions and the night that my children were told that they weren't they did not have to wear a mask the next day to school i sternly talked to them about minding their own business and i talked to them that morning and the rest of the week you mind your own business and you don't worry about what anyone has on their face and i did not receive any reports about my children not following my directions that's all thank you thank you mrs plunk okay up next is margaret burke stand by margaret

115all right margaret your mic is enabled when you're ready to begin i'll meet your mic state your name and mentality please um margaret burke upper gwened i wanted to thank the board for mentioning the um bachi team um making the state championships we are so proud my son is on the jv and they won't be going but we're so proud to support the varsity players thank you uh very much for making the school a safe place where they can achieve things like that i appreciate it and also on the comments i think it's mr lanier i do remember hearing him say before i knew what happened in the school there was a lot of accusations i remember hearing him say and i do know what a privilege walk is and i've been inspired by that

116helped me realize my own privilege as a white woman um but when he was describing it as a race situation where people were lined up by race and being forced to apologize i could it didn't even it it doesn't even resemble what a privilege walk is at all so um i just wanted to put it out there that um saying that the board is lying is absolutely untrue that is not what people were describing that happen thank you very much have a great night thank you mrs burke up next is diana blystone diane i've enabled your microphone there we go uh when you're ready to begin your comments state your name and then it's paladin hi my name is diana blystone lansdale um i was in penfield middle school thinking the meeting was there there

117wasn't a car in the parking lot i didn't see a player sports going on i am bringing this to the board as a concerned special need parent whose child is not getting free in public public education in a wonderful school district that you say has everything my fifth grader was offered the middle school to meet his needs currently when after taking a tour and not not seeing a sensory room or anywhere to go for outside it is disheartening that you have all the sports programs in the world right here in the school district but you don't have a room for a child to de-escalate their sensory needs in a district you save navigates the world of special needs and understands it is so upsetting to me as a parent to think that i could send

118my child to a school that doesn't even have a swing for him to swing on to be able to regulate himself in a program it is really heartbreaking to me to think that i have to find out a placement outside this district i hear a lot of communication about these cyber schools if you make north penn great they won't need other places to go so i feel like as a parent of special needs when i hear you bring up charter schools it is disheartening to think my child doesn't have a place here and for any of you to bring up charter schools you need to make these programs available for everyone and make everyone feel like they have a place here because my son who's in fifth grade doesn't thank you mrs pleiston i'd be

119interested in knowing what school that would be so i'm mrs blaser and i will reach out to you tomorrow um i see mr lanier's hand is up but i think mr schutz is next correct correct so mr shoots your mic is enabled so when you're ready to begin state your name and it's pounding begin your comments thank you i'll be very brief again i just want to say again a huge thank you to the school district we're doing a fantastic job um and we really appreciate it um it's not fair the amount of abuse that you take at these meetings uh the comments that are so vitriolic and hateful uh and and untrue i also want to say i'm really really super pleased with the music program of the school district from grade school all

120the way up through high school it is outstanding i mean it's truly outstanding i was a music major my whole life i was a music major in college i played trumpet in grade school middle school in high school and i have never had seen a program that was so thorough and so well run a special shout out to mr clank and mr santanello mr thompson uh mr um morehousekey those guys are doing a great great job with my kids and i'm really happy that the school district has them um so thank you once again for all the hard work please keep up the good work that you do for us um and uh and and let it roll off your back uh like water rolls off a duck's back because um there's a lot of

121important work to be done and you don't need to you shouldn't you shouldn't be subject to so much abuse as you are and uh and i'm really grateful that you're sticking it out thank you once again and i'll conclude my comments thank you mr streets and we completely agree with you about our music program it is outstanding thank you are there any other comments to be made this evening by anybody mr alteria i see your hands ready but there's only one comment per per period so if anyone else that hasn't already spoken intend to do that raise your hand now i don't see anyone else nope that would uh conclude the second public comment for tonight okay mr casa yeah thank you madam madam president once again appreciate all the perspectives that were shared tonight

122i think i'm still bothered by the initial public comment those who i felt were very disingenuous talking about an article written by our students in our student paper sharing about social and emotional health and what that means there's bravery and strength to be able to speak about those issues that's not weakness i think those people who discuss that issue and the way that they have really just exposed themselves for who they are you know ms bradica you never showed up until you were running for office and i'm glad that you have that's what makes this democracy strong let's have good campaigns should not just be one party um that makes every decision we need to have a public discourse and the public then will decide at the ballot box so it's great you continue to

123show up but you weren't here the year before throughout that pandemic or the three years prior that this board was working every month just about every week and that's great you should be critical that's what pushes us to be better but i find it very disingenuous when you take someone a student in a night crier who decides to write an article there's nothing to do with the school board that's their opinion you want to talk about freedom and independence you let our students write what they want and you deal with the consequences just like we have to deal with your proxies i'm rather amazed that through this entire campaign and since the election was decided that you decide to go after school board member who is honest and open and transparent and reflects the best

124characteristics of this community and its values and at the same time you decide ms bradica to call yourself the voice of the community after posting misinformation spreading disinformation for your own benefit to be your own celebrity railing against diversity and how horrible north penn is and then you ms bradica take your political platform the voice of the community and you make it private in the last week or two i found that very hypocritical ironic is the nicest thing that i can say when when you decide to be so disingenuous and you talk about who's being political i'd like for you ms bradica to finally be honest with your own supporters and proxies who've attacked me and others on this board what are your political goals what's your stepping stone let's level with the community thank

125you mr kosov does anyone oh mr fusco yeah thanks mrs um yeah i just wanted to take a moment and uh i wanted to thank the folks who've reached out about the night crier article um to be clear it was a student generated idea that i was approached with i wasn't sure at first whether or not it was something i really wanted to talk about but um you know anxiety is touched other members of my family as well and i saw it as an opportunity um to serve as a model for i mean it was a student newspaper for students in particular that might be dealing with issues to see that if you know the board vice president is dealing with this kind of thing that maybe it's not so unusual that i am and

126maybe it's okay if he can talk about it then maybe i can so i took that as an opportunity right that it is okay to talk about these issues especially if you feel like they're becoming debilitating and i'm not in that in that place it was it was a one-time experience for me with the um the attack um and that's not to say i haven't still deal with um anxiety in my life we all do in some level and for our own personal reasons thank you julianne for for your words you know um student mental health has been in the forefront of my mind since the moment i accept this role i mean long before that i started 22 years ago when i started my teaching career right i i'm concerned for our immuno-compromised students

127to this day right and that we are doing what everything we can to protect them right i i'm concerned for student mental health beyond cope it's why i supported hiring counselors and climate coordinators it's why i've insisted to dr bauer that we put together a homework study group because in my experience in school buildings i see the anxiety from four to five hours of homework on a regular basis as being much more of a issue that students feel is is preventing them from being healthy as opposed to a mask and again that's my experience and please keep in mind i spend all day in elementary school buildings middle school buildings and high school buildings and my experience my personal experience that i use to base my decision making on doesn't show and i don't mean

128this is a blanket statement but it has not been the crisis that has been described to me by parents at school board meetings that's just not what i've seen and if i had seen that type of crisis i'm sure that would have affected my decision making so that is first hand knowledge that i bring to that decision making my final thought is just this to those who suggest that i should step down uh because of my willingness to talk about my experience i assure you that i'm working through these issues that i'm well i'm healthy and i'm not going anywhere so you don't have to worry about me all right thanks folks that's it thank you mr fusco we're not going to let you go anywhere anyway so anyone else have any comments they would

129like to make mrs romich go ahead please i just want to say how much i really appreciate the community education program um i've loved the program as a parent i love getting the catalog in the mail in the in the um early fall and in the winter for the spring session um my kids have participated in art classes and um are part of the aquatic program and we've really enjoyed the contribution that that um entails for the community and in talking about the income tax rebate i've also really grown to love and value the gold card program um which enables our communities senior citizens and being able to take advantage of those programs at a low cost for free and i was so grateful for this spring to see um discussions about from our diversity

130equity and inclusion groups talking about different topics and sharing data so talking about dei using data right letting the data tell the story and letting us help helping us dig through these issues and these questions um it was such an impressive conversation we had a one-to-one ratio of participants um to north penn district staff so i encourage others to come and join um and be a part of those conversations i believe there are two additional ones that um are part of the community education program so please come and join dr waters your team did a tremendous job um and i loved being able to review the data with community members and have those new aha moments so things that hadn't stood out before that did stand out um and really the highlight was actually hearing

131some of the data and the aha moments and hearing um the insight from building leaders right so what the data means for them and making it real um it was really just an impressive conversation and for that i'm really grateful so thank you thank you mrs ramich are there any other comments this evening okay seeing none do i have a motion to return so moved thank you very much all right have a good night everyone [Music] just waiting for everybody to jump out there dr bauer mr scracky this is ramich